Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Quick Links

While there are a lot of bands that can't stay the distance and keep making great music without splitting up due to musical differences, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are thankfully not one of them. Despite court battles with record labels, they still manage to keep on keeping on doing what they do best.

BRMC have just released their eighth studio album 'Wrong Creatures' and, while it's been a long time coming, they prove wrong the cynics that say guitar music is dead. Clearly it is not.

'DFF' is the opener, and with its intense build up, it's one that's meant for live shows. The following 'Spook' has the BRMC trademark of great guitar riffs that blast into life at the chorus; no gimmicks, just three people and their instruments.

It's hard to believe that over 16 years ago Black Rebel Motorcycle Club came to the shores of the UK and supported Oasis at Finsbury Park, instantly making an impact. Every time they've returned, they've left a lasting mark. A true rock 'n' roll band that knows their roots and never step away from that.

Tonight, BRMC are back at the venue with the stickiest floors in the UK, Rock City. The stage floods with strobe lights and copious amounts of smoke, and the band hit out straight away with their new track 'Little Thing Gone Wild'; a typically upbeat number that suggests good things for their upcoming album.

Their next offering was rather spoiled by an unflux of chatter from the audience, but through the disturbance they played an enjoyable mix of the old and the new, smashing out 'Berlin' and the brilliant 'Conscience Killer' then sliding in a couple of new ones: 'Haunt' and 'Question Of Faith'. They offered quite the treat with renditions of 'Love Burns' and 'Stop'.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have been around since 1998, championed by Noel Gallagher during his Oasis days having them supporting them on countless occasions. Why is that? Because not only do Black Rebel Motorcycle Club churn out some great Rock 'n' Roll tracks, but this band can deliver those bad boys effortlessly on the live stage. If you have not seen this band live, you have two options: catch them on their latest tour or purchase their latest album 'Live in Paris'.

'Live in Paris' is a DVD and CD filled with twenty three tracks of Rock 'n' Roll monsters, all packed into this. The trio just let their music do the talking, but be warned if you are not going to play this on its highest level then you won't get the full effect.

So the band kick off everything with 'Fire Walker' before moving swiftly onto 'Let The Day Begin'. Peter Hayes acknowledges the crowd and explains that, as it is a year on from the release of the album, they thought it would be good to play it from start to finish, which in itself is a treat; it's not often bands go through a whole album from start to finish. Most bands nowadays like to do this with a long anniversary on a release of an album, but Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are not in the line of 'Most Bands' and do things their way.

Joan Jett was honoured at the 2013 Sunset Strip Festival, Linkin Park played an amazing headline set and Chris Brown even made an appearance.

The sixth edition of Hollywood's Sunset Strip Music Festival was a memorable affair with some amazing surprise features and a great show from this year's honouree Joan Jett with her band The Blackhearts.

The event took place last weekend (August 1st - 3rd) with an astounding 15,000 fans showing up to soak in the rock vibes. It kicked off on the Thursday as veteran rock chick Joan Jett was landed with the Elmer Valentine Award celebrating her influence on the Sunset Strip music scene. Following a stunning performance, the star told Rolling Stone how good it felt to be once again playing on the Strip. 'It felt really fulfilling in a lot of ways. When I left LA, it was with a hangdog vibe', she explained. 'I had the impression. of people laughing at me, saying. 'We told you girls couldn't play rock and roll'. It's very humbling. People are very sincere in their praise and you can't take it lightly.'

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are one of those few bands that has been around for fifteen years now and have the welcoming toothache of trying to figure what songs to play and what songs to leave out. The good news for tonight is that the rumour mill around Rock City is in full flow and BRMC are going to play a 2 hour set!!

The mood and atmosphere around Rock City is buoyant and the fact that Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have not been in the UK for a good two years means everyone around is excited and the anticipation rises as time gets closer for the trio to come out and showcase their stuff, and it's an opportunity to see how they sound with the sticks in the hands of Leah Shapiro.

When you can pull out tracks such as 'Red Eyes' and 'Beat The Devils Tattoo' you can get away with sticking a couple of acoustic tracks in the middle which really shouldn't work but, for tonight, it kind of did; well, it did in the way that it gave a few people a chance to relax for a couple of minutes and get a beer. Let's be honest, you can't sustain two hours of pure high energy like these guys produce. Although the harsher person out there would've still said they would prefer that they just stick in the ten minutes of magic that is 'Half State'

As many people know, this is the first Black Rebel Motorcycle Club album to be released since bassist Robert Levon Been's Father, Michael Been, died of a heart attack in 2010.

Been's father was the singer of 80s band The Call and what better way to pay a tribute than to record a cover of the band's most prominent hit, Let The Day Begin. It is an ideal way to pay tribute to a father and musician. Been senior was also often referred to as the unofficial fourth member of the band.

Not only is Specter At The Feast a triumph for its content, it is also a triumph that it was made after having suffered such a loss. The album manages to encompass all the sounds BRMC have demonstrated on previous albums since their 2001 self-titled debut. Specter At The Feast begins with the slow burning Fire Walker which sets the mood for the rest of the album.

Tremors were a foot from the day that Black Rebel Motorcycle Club announced their tour of the UK. The thing that got peoples eyebrows raised is the fact that the band are selling out venues and shows have been moved to bigger venues to accommodate demand, for example, the band has had to upgrade to Barrowland's in Glasgow that meant only one thing, new album on the way.